The fascinating gory details of how purple dye used to be made

August 2, 2018 12:01 PM

"This is a colour that pretends to transcend the vulgar vagaries of this world, all the while remaining mired in its muck." This piece by Kelly Grovier stood out for me, because of his lyrical writing, and artfully-composed phrases, like: "Though purple may have symbolised a higher order, it reeked of a lower ordure."
posted by rbanerjee (11 comments total)

And the meta-joke (appropriately for MetaFilter) is that it is very purple prose.
posted by scratch at 12:46 PM on August 2, 2018 [2 favorites]

"Though purple may have symbolised a higher order, it reeked of a lower ordure."

A New World Ordure, as it were.
posted by Celsius1414 at 12:57 PM on August 2, 2018 [5 favorites]

me: is it snail snot?
article: it is actually snail BUTT snot
me: omg
posted by poffin boffin at 12:58 PM on August 2, 2018 [9 favorites]

For some reason I think Poffin Boffin summoned me...
posted by notsnot at 1:04 PM on August 2, 2018 [11 favorites]

Proof that Prince was the actual King of Pop.
posted by Brocktoon at 2:43 PM on August 2, 2018

"Violet, you're turning violet!"

-Mrs. Beauregarde
posted by clavdivs at 5:38 PM on August 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

Bacon’s sizzling nudge towards violent violet is fitting, as if the Pope were undergoing the excruciating disgorgement of millions of molluscs over many millennia.

Purple prose indeed.
Although, given the latest news coming, I'd like to dip all of the recently outed sanctimonious sex offenders deep into mollusc poop.
posted by BlueHorse at 6:42 PM on August 2, 2018

Wow. My 4 year old wants purple hair and you had best believe that the phrase “snail butt snot” is making an appearance at breakfast tomorrow.
posted by telepanda at 7:17 PM on August 2, 2018 [5 favorites]

From tumblr via twitter

Roses are red, that much is true, but violets are purple, not fucking blue.

They are indeed purple, / But one thing you've missed:
The concept of "purple" / Didn't always exist.

Some cultures lack names / For a color, you see.
Hence good old Homer / And his "wine-dark sea."

So roses are red. / Violets once were called blue.
I'm hugely pedantic / But what else is new?

My friend you're not wrong / About Homer's wine-ey sea!
Colours are a matter / Of cultural contingency;

Words are in flux / And meanings they drift
But the word purple / You've given short shrift

The concept of purple, / My friends is old
And refers to a pigment / once precious as gold.

By crushing up molluscs / From the wine-dark sea
You make a dye: / Imperial decree

Meant that in Rome, / to wear purpura
was a privilege reserved / For only the Emperor!

The word ‘purple’, / for clothes so fancy,
Entered English / By the ninth century

Why then are violets / Not purple in song?
The dye from this mollusc, / known for so long

Is almost magenta; / More red than blue.
The concept of purple / is old, and yet new.

The dye is red, / So this might be true:
Roses are purple / And violets are blue

While this song makes me merry
Tyrian purple dyes many a hue
From magenta to berry
And a true purple too.

But fun as it is to watch this poetic race
The answer is staring you right in the face:
Roses are red and violets are blue
Because nothing fucking rhymes with purple.

posted by straight at 10:06 AM on August 3, 2018 [5 favorites]

Bleah! Y'all can keep your purple, anyway. I agree that it's appalling; never found it attractive as a color. The few times I was made to wear it, I also saw that it makes the undertone of my skin look sickly and green.
posted by droplet at 10:14 AM on August 3, 2018

I am bewildered by people that are absolutely obsessed with purple.

I have a friend who deliberately seeks out purple--whether it be her microwave, coffee pot, and toaster, or the purple dish soap and hand lotion in a purple bottle. Her toothbrush is purple. She collects purple teapots. Her horse's saddle blanket and bridle are purple. Not to mention, it really should be the right shade of purple, more what I would call amethyst or royal, but in this imperfect world, she often has to settle for lilac, violet, or grape. Heaven forbid you would offer her periwinkle, magenta, hyacinth, or mauve. She would love to have her house painted purple, and have a purple car.

My mother-in-law isn't quite as bad about the minor details of life being purple, but she had a lavender painted house when I met her, and she has a purple wall in her kitchen (with purple accents). She likes a broader range of purples in clothing and accessories.

Oddly enough, they are both redheads, and I have met other redheads crazy about purple, too.
Correlation does not imply causation, or YMMV.

I personally eschew purple.
posted by BlueHorse at 6:30 PM on August 3, 2018